Three Years
by why 'cuz I said so
Summary: Doyle and Holo-Rommie have a conversation about Harper and Dylan. Complete.


Title: Three Years

Characters: Hologram-Rommie and Doyle

Spoilers: Yes. :) Let's be safe and say for all of season 5, though that's not 100 percent accurate. But there are definite spoilers for the ep where Hohne "returns from the dead" So stop reading if you don't want to know anymore about that. Right now. Sorry if I already spoiled something for anyone!

Disclaimer: I believe I have been over this before: I don't own anything related to Andromeda and I am not profiting off this

A/N: First, apologies that this is not an update to my story in progress (Doing Time on Seefra). I have the next chapter for that one almost done, but it needs refining (lots). Second, this story comes from the ep where Hohne returns (sorry I can't remember the title). I'm almost certain that at one point Harper said something to the effect that Hohne had been dead to him for three years, which makes no sense if you count the three years he spent alone on Seefra. So that got me thinking. Then Dylan was all hyped up about going back in time to pre-Witchhead. Say what? So, if I am wrong about those things happening in the ep, then this story will make no sense whatsoever. So I really hope I am right!

* * *

Holo-Rommie suddenly appeared in front of Doyle as the android worked in the Engine core. "Why did Harper tell Hohne that he had been dead three years?" 

Doyle put down the tools she was using, leaned back on the console, and crossed her arms in front of herself. "Whatever do you mean Andromeda? It must have been a slip of the tongue." The relationship between the two had passed through several stages: outright animosity, avoidance, and currently politeness oh-so-lightly laced with sarcasm.

Holo-Rommie observed Doyle's posture and cross referenced it with in the information in her database on human kinesics. Harper was good. It was clearly indicative of defensiveness and avoidance, very human. However, Andromeda felt a strong compulsion to determine what was wrong with her engineer and if Doyle knew then she could not be allowed to hide it. "Harper does not make mistakes like that. And he has been very vocal about having been here three years longer than the Captain. It does not seem likely that he would suddenly forget." Doyle's posture became more rigid, her hands clenched in fists, her eyes narrowed, and her lips pressed into a tight line. Holo-Rommie analyzed these new signs: anger, stubbornness, pain. Harper really was very good. She evaluated her options and decided to approach the problem in a slightly different way. "It concerns me because Harper is a member of my crew and my friend. I need to know what is wrong to know if I can help him. Please."

Doyle wavered for a moment, then spoke, "It's because it was only three years for Dylan. Three years since Hohne died I mean."

"What? That makes no sense."

"Maybe it doesn't make any sense to you, but this isn't about you it's about Harper and it makes perfect sense to his subconscious mind. There's something you have to understand about him. How can I explain it. He told me a lot of stories, before you all showed up on Seefra. His whole life on Earth was living day to day, looking out for himself. Then he met Beka, someone who demanded respect and loyalty and who was willing to lead in return. And Harper learned he wanted someone to follow. Not that he'd ever say that, but it was pretty obvious from the way he talked about life with Beka. So he lived pretty much the same life, but now he had someone to follow, to trust." Doyle smiled a little. "He really is very loyal you know, greedy, lecherous, annoying, even mean spirited, but loyal. So then he met Dylan, and Dylan was a leader even Beka would follow. So Harper let himself believe in Dylan. It might not have seemed that way, but he is a very good actor when he thinks he needs to be. Case in point, he stayed on Arkology even when every instinct must have been screaming at him to run away. And then he was here alone, and it's like his life was put on pause. He hasn't really changed since you were all separated. He may seem more selfish and less caring, but it's just another act, a way to hide his weaknesses so he won't get discarded."

"That may explain some of his recent behavior, but it still doesn't answer my original question or explain your first answer." It was times like this when Andromeda missed her connection to Rommie and regretted the superficial connection between herself and Doyle. The avatars were so much better at understanding such issues.

"Like I said it's because of Dylan. He's back and it's like someone hit the play button on Harper's life. So now he's living two parallel lives, one where he spent three years alone here while his friends became people he doesn't recognize and another where nothing has changed and it has been only three years since Hohne apparently died. Today on the Andromeda, under Dylan's command, working on an old project he was fully in that second life, under Dylan's timeline. Dylan has that effect on people. He is this force that just sucks in other people's lives and twists them around his own."

"Are you saying that the whole situation is the Captain's fault? Beka, Rhade, and Harper have all implied that on numerous occasions."

Doyle shook her head and leaned further back; sometime during her explanation she had uncrossed her arms and placed them against the console. "No, I'm just saying that he's the primary causal factor. No blame Andromeda, just truth."

Holo-Rommie decided to work on that problem later, the conversation was getting off track. "I see. So the reason for Harper's erratic behavior and attitude swings is his inability to reconcile these two lives? I don't know how to help him with that."

Doyle smiled inwardly, though she was careful not to show it on the outside. Andromeda really did need her. "That's just it, you don't have to – he's doing it on his own. His 'slip of the tongue' is evidence of that. And when was the last time you heard him bring up those three Seefran years around the captain?"

Both were silent for a moment, and both turned their thoughts from Harper to Dylan.

"Andromeda, may I ask you a question now?"

"What does it concern?"

Doyle considered how to frame the question, she didn't want to upset the fragile balance between herself and the hologram. At least not when she was trying to get information out of her. "When Dylan heard that the teleporter was a link to the past and that it might be possible to go back to before Witchhead he said he had to take the opportunity to change the outcome of that battle, to try to prevent the fall of the Commonwealth. But I've looked at your records, he had that same opportunity before and turned it down for several reasons, not the least of which was the fact that the Commonwealth was doomed by that time anyway."

"Yes, the captain was very reluctant to do anything to alter the past and only acted when it became clear that, in fact, he already had." Holo-Rommie was fairly certain what Doyle was going to say next, but she wasn't going to be the one to bring it up.

"So why was he so determined to change the past this time? Especially since he couldn't possibly achieve his main goal and prevent the fall of the Commonwealth? Why would he go against all his principles to do something he knows is wrong?"

The hologram had been correct, that is exactly what she had thought the android would ask. It was a question she had spent some time considering herself.. "You said that Harper hasn't changed as much as we all think. I think Dylan has changed far more than any of his former crew realize. More on the inside than the outside. He believes less in himself and more in omens and hidden purpose behind coincidences. He has always followed his intuition, but in the past it was guided by training and self confidence and above all a belief in the Commonwealth and it's principles. But the Commonwealth he knew fell, and the New Commonwealth was not what he had hoped, and now even that is under attack and he can't do anything to help it. I believe that he has come to depend so much on Trance that he has adopted her methods and way of thinking. And it is partially due to the current state of his crew. He sees in them everyday the results of old decisions and his failures. As you said Doyle, no blame, just truth. He has become so desperate not to fail the Commonwealth for a third time that he is willing to try anything."

Doyle considered this, Dylan did seem to be too good to be true, too confident, too strong, too undamaged by events. Maybe it was a mask. "But he didn't kill Drago when he had the chance? Wouldn't that have been a certain way of saving the Commonwealth?"

Holo-Rommie looked down at the floor. "I asked the captain that. He said that he couldn't kill Rhade while he was lying on the ground in front of him. And that the effects of killing Drago were too wide ranging to be certain. The Nietzscheans made very important contributions to the Commonwealth in the many centuries before they betrayed it. It is possible that the Commonwealth might have fallen in another manner, to the Pyrians or the Magog or some other force, if Nietzscheans had never existed. He did his best to make them flawed in the hopes of minimizing the damage they would eventually cause."

Doyle and Holo-Rommie were both silent again for a moment before Doyle continued. "So, we serve a crew, including a depressed alcoholic Nietzschean, an adrenaline addict of a pilot who has almost gotten used to life here, and a borderline schizophrenic engineer, all of who have lost their sense of team and become little more than a collection of angry individuals. And a captain who may be even more damaged than his crew but who is still trying to save them, using intuition and omens. Does that about cover the situation Andromeda?"

Looking Doyle straight in the eye Holo-Rommie answered "Yes."

Doyle sighed, "Well then, now that we both understand the situation maybe we can do something to fix it. Because these people obviously need all the help they can get."

"Yes, they do."

* * *

Ugg, I don't like the ending. I knew I wanted to say something about Harper's weird slip and Dylan's sudden philosophy flip-flop and it was all so clear in my head – right up to the part where the conversation had to end. Then I had nada. If I think of something better I'll fix it! 


End file.
